The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Volume One and Volume Two. (Signed and with Original Art by Don Rosa)

*Starred Review* Collecting the first half of Rosa’s 12-part comic series, which landed him an Eisner Award in 1995, this gorgeously gold-gilt volume aims to introduce a new generation of readers to Uncle Scrooge, “the cheapest, stingiest, most miserly, turnip-squeezingest, penny-pinching tightwad on earth.” And it’ll go a long way toward showing how, in master comics storyteller Carl Barks’ legendary hands, such a skinflint became one of Disney’s most beloved characters. After a thorough study of Barks’ original Scrooge stories from the late 1940s on, Rosa made a time line of all the “Barksian facts” that referenced Scrooge’s past and crafted a narrative for his youth and search for fortune. Here, this path leads him from a poor childhood in Glasgow, down the Mississippi, through the Badlands of North Dakota, into the cattle country of Montana, back to his family’s abandoned castle in Dismal Downs, Scotland, and then, on a gold-hunting jaunt in Africa. It’s an exceedingly clever conceit, and Rosa’s intricate artistry, comic timing, and storytelling instincts pull it off magnificently. Most importantly, he is reverent of Barks, but not slavish to him, which allows for completely satisfying reading for those who aren’t in the know. To satisfy Barks devotees, however, each chapter closes with inside information on sources, “Insane Details to Look For,” and other offhanded asides from Rosa on writing Scrooge comics. Pure gold. Grades 5-8. --Ian Chipman